United We Shatter
by Red Hill
Summary: [AU] At the age of five, Naruto mysteriously disappears out of Konoha. At the age of seven, he is brought back and enrolled in the Academy, while being supported by a strange girl named Kasumi. [Will have OCs, Contains Het and ShounenAi, Manga Spoilers!]
1. Prologue

**Note:** Again, a new fic. I'll be writing this next to 'The Hokitty', so it may take some time to update. I do have more time because school has just ended for me, and I have actually written quite a lot lately. I haven't decided on pairings yet, or even if they're going to appear, so suggestions are welcome.

**Title: **United We Shatter  
**Author:** Red Hill  
**Rating:** PG-13/T  
**Genre:** Action/Adventure (/Romance/Humor)  
**Disclaimer:** I do not and will never own Naruto & other characters, and am not making money for writing this.

* * *

**United We Shatter**

_Prologue_

Once, I wrote a story about this little boy, who had no family, no friends and no one that would acknowledge his existence. He was left behind as a baby, with parents that did not want him and tried to get rid of him as soon as possible. Even though it was not his fault that everyone despised him. It were not his actions, nor his words, that made people fear and hate him. After all, he was just a small child, who, to his knowledge, had done nothing more than play some silly pranks.

But he felt alone, nonetheless, without anyone to play with, and no one to take care of him. Because all he wanted was a friend, someone to be nice to him. That was all he longed for, until…

Once, I wrote a letter to a comrade of mine, asking him to give the kid a friend. Because I no longer wanted to see him suffer, and my comrade was just the one person that would make his wish come true…

* * *

''Hokage-sama!'' Two elite jounin came barging into the office of the supposed-to-be strongest ninja of Konoha, who had just settled for a nap on his desk. Really, the Hokage needs some time off, too. (Even though all he does is signing papers, give out missions and going to important meetings. And being cool, of course.) The Hokage sat back in his chair and nodded to the two ninja to explain why they had so suddenly decided to give him a visit. 

''It is the Kyuubi-boy, Hokage-sama!'' the taller shinobi quickly explained. ''He disappeared.''

''Yeah,'' his companion agreed, ''one moment we were just watching him, and the other one he was suddenly gone.'' He thought for a moment. ''It's almost like he disappeared off the face of the earth.''

The Hokage nodded slowly. ''Have you tried looking for him in a five kilometre radius? He couldn't have went that far, he's only five.''

''We already tried that, Hokage-sama,'' the first jounin said, ''and it's even worse than that. His chakra also isn't traceable from the spot where he disappeared.''

''It's like he went 'Poof' and disappeared to never be seen again,'' the second nin added.

The further the two jounin got with their explanation, the bigger the frown on the Hokage's face got. When they finally finished, he ordered them to get one of their best ANBU squads to find the boy. If the villagers found out about Naruto.. They wouldn't be pleased to hear their _demon_ had escaped from Konoha's grasp. He shook his head lightly and wondered if there ever would be time to retire.

About ten minutes later, half of the population of Konoha was looking for the demon-child. ''We should lock him up when we find him,'' a few of them said. ''No,'' replied other people, ''we should immediately kill him. He's a danger t o our village.'' And the Hokage could do nothing more then watching the scene with growing fear and anger.

Naruto himself wasn't aware of the fact everyone was making a fuss about his disappearance. In fact, he didn't even know that he wasn't in Konoha anymore.

''Ano, where is everyone?'' he wonder out loud, looking out of his apartment window. He had to climb on the windowsill to look outside, but there wasn't that much to look at. You could look at the street at the front, but there weren't any people. Then there was the Hokage monument, but there wasn't anything interesting there to look at either.

It was then that he noticed the cloaked figure that sat on a roof on the other side of the street. He was studying the building in front of him, it seemed. But to Naruto it felt like the stranger was directly looking at him.

He frowned and jumped back to the floor, turned around and- saw the stranger sitting on the only available chair.

With eyes and mouth wide open, the little child could gape and stare and who knows what else? The stranger chuckled to himself when he saw Naruto's expression, and then suddenly started coughing. Naruto, forgetting this man could also be an enemy, rushed to his side, but the man raised a hand motioning it would be fine.

''Sorry for that,'' he finally said when the fit stopped, ''that's what you get when you're my age.'' He seemed to be smiling, but Naruto couldn't clearly see and leaned closer. He _was_ smiling. Naruto blinked and stared up, expecting to be glared at any minute.

The man chuckled again. ''No worries. I have no intention of harming you.''

''Oh. Okay.'' No one had ever said something like that to him. Of course, they didn't tell him right into his face that they hated him, but he could hear them. Exactly why that was, he didn't know, but he had just dropped the subject after a few weeks. It wasn't like the voice in his head was telling him anything useful, anyway. All that he talked about was power, female foxes (he didn't really get that one) and other useless things. But now the voice was telling him to trust this man. That it was fine. Naruto had to admit the voice had never been so nice before.

Patiently the man waited, or so it seemed. He had all the time of the world. Curiously the blond peeked at him, trying to find out what the man was thinking. After about ten seconds or so, he decided it didn't matter.

''Well,'' the man said, ''time to go.'' He stood up and walked to the door, only to turn around and ask, ''Do you want to come?''

Happily Naruto nodded, glad that the stranger had asked him. He followed him outside, and together they walked through the empty Leaf Village.

Still, there was no trace of Uzumaki Naruto. He had been gone for three weeks. No one that had seen him ever since that moment. However, no one seemed to be bothered by that, in fact everyone was glad that he was gone. Everyone except the Third Hokage.

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Reviews are very welcome, including constructive criticism. I have absolutely no idea when the next chapter will be finished, but I will probably post it only after I started chapter two, so it might take some time.  



	2. October Tenth

Sorry for the long wait, this chapter was a real pain to write, that's why it took so long. Next update will (hopefully) be sooner. You can request a pairing in your review, but I can't promise that it will actually appear in this fic. I'll write some one-shots or something, I'm better at that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and will never claim I do.

* * *

**United We Shatter**

_Chapter One – October Tenth_

''Niisan, like this?'' A seven-year-old Sasuke looked up to his brother, a questionable look on his face.

Itachi nodded, the slightest of smiles tucking on his lips, a reaction only Sasuke could trigger. ''Yes. But if you hold your fingers like this, it's much easier to throw more than one at the same time.'' He showed Sasuke what kind of effect this could have, and then watched how he tried himself. ''Just practice a little more,'' he said when Sasuke clearly missed the target, ''you'll get better.''

''I'll never get as good as you, niisan,'' Sasuke pouted.

Itachi smirked, ''Just do your best.''

Brightly, Sasuke nodded, a silly grin displayed on his face.

''Now you go practice some more, Father expects me soon. I'll be back tomorrow.'' Sasuke nodded again and watched his brother's retreating back. Then, with a look of determination on his face, he faced the target and continued the training he and his brother had started about half an hour ago. 'I will make niisan proud.'

* * *

Not so far from there, two girls were just ending a conversation. They waved each other goodbye and both headed towards home. 

One of the girls in particular, the pink-haired one, seemed to be troubled. 'Maybe Ino-chan is right,' she thought, 'I need to stand up for myself. But how?' She bit on her lower lip and frowned. She was just a small, little girl, what difference could she make, anyway?

It was then that a dark-haired man passed her. He was walking rather quickly and the girl, Sakura, recognised the fan on his back as the Uchiha symbol. She watched him as he talked to a blond man and kept staring when they both walked off in a different direction. She blinked and suddenly realised that she was the only one who'd seen the scene; the people around her hadn't even noticed the Uchiha (which was actually quite odd, since they always seemed to notice him).

She just shrugged it off as a 'grown-up thing' and soon after that she reached her home.

* * *

''I'm home!'' While kicking of his sandals in the hallway, Naruto ran into the living room of the apartment he shared with three other people. To his surprise, no one was there. He scowled darkly, dumped his bag on the old table and sat down on the worn out couch. 

''You know, if you keep frowning like that, your eyebrows will fall off,'' a voice behind him commented, ''I wouldn't want you to become like Gaara-nii.''

Naruto shot up and whirled around, almost losing his balance in the progress. ''Neechan! You came!''

The dark-haired girl laughed. ''Of course I came, you silly! You really think I'd want to miss your birthday?'' She let herself drop from the ceiling she had been sticking to and landed neatly in front of Naruto. ''How did your training go?''

''Really good!'' he showed her how good by nodding furiously. The girl laughed again and ruffled him through his hair.

''Now, aren't you forgetting something?'' She held up a gift-wrapped box with his name on it and grinned. ''Got you a present!'' The next moment she was falling back on the couch with Naruto on top of her.

''Thank you!'' He hugged her tightly and then sat up to unwrap his present. It turned out to be a new set of clothing, complete with the signature swirl on it. The girl, who's name was Kasumi, smiled when she saw him gleaming while holding the cloth tightly.

A knock on wood made them both look up. There, standing in the doorway, was their surrogate father. He was the one that had taken Naruto from Konoha to this place.

Silently he had watched the interaction between his children, glad that they could come along so well, because it hadn't always been like that. In the beginning, they'd fought a lot. Kasumi had felt offended by Naruto, because she'd thought he would be taking her spot and that was exactly what she didn't want.

Like Naruto, she was an only child, and when _he_ had come to take care of her, she'd been so happy. She had trusted him from the moment they met each other, and instinctively knew he meant no harm for her. He'd taken her in and loved her like a father would love his daughter; he knew that that was what she'd been lacking all those years: love.

Therefore, it hadn't been surprising when she first of all completely ignored Naruto's existence, when he'd arrived here. Second, whenever the young boy asked her something, she'd snap at him and insult him like there was no tomorrow.

The two had a strong bond, though, and they felt connected, because they were _the same_. They had been shunned because of the same reasons, they had the ideals and the same wishes. _Acknowledgement. Understanding. _ They had wanted friends, people who loved them for who they were.And they had found that person in him.

Kasumi and Naruto silently stared at him as he strode into the room. They respected him, who he was and what he'd done for them. So they were silent when he spoke.

''Naruto…'' he said, while staring down at the boy. Slight amusement twinkled in his eyes, although the blond jinchuuriki completely missed it. ''You have finally reached the age to, with permission of a Kage, be enrolled in an academy. As I am your guardian, you also need my permission to enter one. Would you like that?'' As _he_ had talked, Naruto's eyes had gotten wider by the moment, and when _he_ had asked his question, he immediately nodded.

The man known as their father smiled and also nodded. ''I will tell you more information next week. For now, let us enjoy a bit of family time.''

* * *

As the small family made themselves comfortable and talked to each other, the family of a little boy was slaughtered, while a little girl still wondered what her sightings this afternoon had meant. And then a new chapter started, for all of them.

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Thank you for reading, please review or leave a message or something. I'm thankful for each and every review I get. Cookies for the people who reviewed my first story, anonymous, Seraphim of Darkness, 2 u, Un-wise, Meinos877 and Naruto-sama2008.  



	3. Differences Between Now and Then

Well, here's the next update. It was faster then the one before, so... Yeah. You can insert a smiley here. Haha.

**Warning:** There will be _manga spoilers_ from now on. If you don't want it to be spoiled, please hit the back button.

Enjoy!**

* * *

**

**United We Shatter**

_Chapter Two - Differences Between Now and Then_

Sometimes he wondered how it would be to be normal. Not normal as in average, but normal as in not having a demon sealed inside of you. Before _he_ had come, Naruto hadn't known what it was like to not be stared after with looks of hatred, to be insulted without knowing why, to be humiliated in front of everyone. It had all disappeared when _he_ took him in. And now, now he was back at the place where he was born.

* * *

''Class, this is Naruto. He is our new student and I expect you to be nice to him.'' Iruka pointed at an empty seat beside a girl with blue-ish black hair and white eyes. ''You can sit there, Naruto.''

While walking towards his seat, he noted that a girl with pink hair was staring intensely at him with large green eyes, but when she noticed he'd caught her staring, she quickly averted her gaze to someone else.

Naruto shrugged and sat down. The girl next to him blushed and shyly looked his way. The blond academy student grinned at her and then whispered: ''What's your name?''

''Hinata,'' she whispered back and then she smiled at him. ''It's nice to meet you, Naruto-san.''

''Just call me Naruto. Naruto-san makes me feel óld,'' and to add some effect he made some fictional wrinkles in his face with his hands, which made Hinata giggle.

At the front of the classroom, Iruka gained everyone's attention by knocking on the blackboard and then the lesson started.

Two hours later, they had a break and Naruto and Hinata sat together under a tree outside. For October, it was still lovely weather. While they ate lunch, Naruto told the girl all about his 'sister' and 'father'. His enthusiasm seemed to inspire her and soon after that she told the blond something about herself, what she liked; her favourite flower; her favourite kind of food.

Too soon, the break was over and they went back inside, where Iruka taught them the differences between ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu.

* * *

''Well, I'll see you tomorrow, ne, Hinata-chan?'' The girl shyly nodded and watched Naruto's retreating back. When she could no longer see him, she turned around and walked home herself. She felt really happy that she'd finally found a friend. Maybe Father would like him, too. With those words in mind, she smiled and walked inside the mansion.

* * *

''And? How was your first day?'' was the first thing Kasumi asked when Naruto came in.

''It was great!'' he said. ''I made friends too!''

She smiled and ruffled him through his hair. ''Good job, kiddo. Did you get any homework?''

Naruto frowned. ''Um… I don't really remember.''

She laughed when she saw his expression. ''Don't worry about it, I forgot my homework all the time too. Just don't make a habit of it.'' Kasumi winked.

''So, um, where's dad?'' Naruto looked questionably to her.

''Currently he's in Cloud, to check out how Yugito-neechan is doing. Don't worry about it, he'll be back soon.'' Naruto nodded.

''Do you want to train with me?'' he then asked.

''Alright, just this once.'' She followed him outside to the training grounds. On the way, Naruto enthusiastically told her all about jutsu and what he liked about them. When she asked him if he had a favourite one, he blushed and mumbled they hadn't gotten to that part yet.

A few minutes later they arrived at the training grounds, but there were already a couple of jounin training. ''Sorry Naruto, but I don't think we'll be able to train today.'' Naruto pouted and then huffed. He wanted to train too! It wasn't fair! ''You know what,'' Kasumi then said, ''we'll train tomorrow, and I'll teach you a new move. Is that alright with you?''

Naruto was about to respond when two of the jounin noticed them. They raised a hand and smiled. Naruto could barely keep his mouth from falling open. Exactly why were they smiling? He thought everyone hated him.

When he'd been gone, he'd forgotten for a little while about the nasty looks he used to get, and when he got back he had to get used to it again. Kasumi had once said you should never get used to glares and hateful words. But what if it was the only thing you knew?

Until Father had come, Naruto hadn't known what it was like to be cared about. The only thing that came close were the irregular visits of the Third, but even those… Even those had often been awkward.

Naruto was glad he was back, of course, he'd missed his house, his bed, his daily cup of ramen. But he knew, somehow, that it would never be the same again. Kasumi was there. Father was there. He was no longer alone. The villagers had continued to hate him, though, as if he hadn't been gone at all – Naruto suspected they'd practised on someone else, just out of daily habit.

So it was no surprise Naruto was flabbergasted by the sight of two people he didn't know smiling at him. To be honest, he couldn't believe his eyes and blinked a couple of times to be sure they weren't cheating on him.

And as Naruto still tried to figure out _why_, the two Jounin walked up to them, Something even Kasumi hadn't expected. ''Ah, we're just about to leave,'' she said, turning slightly red.

''It's no big deal, really,'' the tallest guy said, ''you two can train here.''

''You really don't have to…'' she blushed.

''Are you kidding, neechan? Come on!'' Naruto tugged on hand, his eyes wide with excitement. Willingly she let Naruto pull her with him. Just before the two jounin turned around, Naruto flashed them a grin and yelled ''Thanks!'' They nodded, and disappeared into the trees.

Kasumi's mind was still with one of those jounin, she thought he was kind of cute. Unfortunately, she didn't even know his name. She didn't really know a lot of people here, which was kind of sad. She liked having people around her.

''Neechan?'' Kasumi looked up. ''Are you still gonna teach me that move?'' Naruto grinned.

Later that afternoon, Naruto and Kasumi just came home from training, and they found their Father in the living room, unable to move a limb.

* * *

So, there we are, at the end of the chapter. I've finally gotten a hold of the plot (it came to me!), and some of the pairings (you can expect some OCxSomeone).  
Thank you for reading. ...there's this tiny blue button at your left. Please click? 


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